Columbus Dispatch...
Taming fear
Ohio prisons chief aims to give inmates a chance to do better  
September  30, 2011 

Ohio’s new prisons chief is taking a common-sense approach to targeting gang violence, an escalating problem that threatens inmate and staff safety and could hamper an inventive reform plan. 

Instead of giving prisoners a slap on the wrist — 15 days of punishment, then transfer to another prison where they are soon out walking the yard and stirring up trouble again — Gary C. Mohr is setting up tough “control prisons.” 

The roundup already has begun, with violent gang members and leaders being shipped from their dormitory-style prisons to these dedicated units, prisons within prisons. 

The first control prison opened in August at Mansfield Correctional Institution. Two others are to follow, eventually holding 300 to 400 difficult inmates. They’ll have to work their way back to basic privileges, including rehabilitation courses. 

By segregating those who disrupt prisons, compliant inmates can participate in programs that boost their chances for rehabilitation. That could save taxpayer dollars in the future. 

“I’ve seen too many inmates, particularly short-timers, locking down in prison and refusing to come out (for rehabilitation programs) because they’re afraid,” said Mohr, director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. “We want to take away the people causing the threats and violence in prison and reduce the influence so we can help the people who want to be exposed to programs we know work.” 

This is a dramatic shift in strategy, prompted by two considerations: Under Ohio’s modern truth-in-sentencing law, inmates are given set terms rather than a range, for example, of 10-15 years. The Ohio Parole Board no longer can extend a troublemaker’s stay to his maximum sentence. This reduces the incentive to behave. 

And gangs are getting tougher, breaking the old codes that forbid snitching, robberies, rapes and group attacks. They are wreaking havoc. Violent incidents involving six or more inmates are erupting, on average, every week, compared with once a month five years ago. 

The level of violence today is staggering, said Mohr, who left the prison system nine years ago and returned in January. 

To combat this, he has outlined a three-tiered system that would allow inmates to progress through “general-population” prisons to “reintegration prisons,” which prepare them for successful release. 

The really bad guys, including violent gang members, would go to the third option: the control prisons. 

“If you participate in a congregate act of violence, we are going to put you in a setting where you do not have the ability to do that,” Mohr said. “It’s pretty common-sense to me.” 

Mohr said he didn’t pattern his idea off another state, though many have isolation prisons where the worst prisoners can sit for years. His goal is to give all 50,000 prisoners “a continuum of hope” so they can move up and out. 

Two weeks ago, Mohr outlined his program before 200 inmates and 75 staff members at Pickaway Correctional Institution. He told them, “I am not going to allow other inmates causing fear and violence among you to stall our progress.” 

He got a standing ovation. 

If taxpayers are ever to gain relief from the escalating costs of prison, inmates must be able to take advantage of rehabilitation programs. Mohr’s idea might be a big step toward that goal. 

Read it at the Columbus Dispatch